Hey guys,

is it REALLY important to have the 'ball bearing' at the bottom of the rear shock absorber?

My new KYB Gas a Justs have a normal bushing instead... I mean, it avoid making the nasty rattle sound when worn but then again: does the bearing really do anything? Especially since the top end is mounted in a flexible bush... It doesn't have the same guiding job as say a trailing arm, so I doubt it needs the bearing instead of a bush...

Opinions? Experience?

Cheers

Damien

 

I think if you tighten the bolt "at ride height" it will be fine.


Tightening the bolt at full droop could be a mistake.

 

The lower OEM mount is called a 'spherical-joint'

bob

 

Yeah, that is what i had in mind. Other than that I see no other issues on the horizon. Thanks.

Thanks for the term Bob! I couldn't think of shperical. Ball -sphere. Mearly the same thing

 

When searching for the part, 'spherical-joint' will be the keyword for the correct one.
The lower joint is available separately but it might NOT press into the KYB damper.

bob

 

A rubber bushing will work, but i doubt it will last long due to the angles it will be subjected to on full compression. i.e the lower arms mount doesn't just move straight up and down in relation to the shock center line. As above you can buy the bushings and replace them, but you will need a hyd press to get the old ones out and the new ones in.

 

I have two new spherical joints for the rear already laying here, as I only wanred to replace them before I decided to do the shocks instead. I'll give it a measuring. Might fit, might not. The KYB bushings seem to be of a very high quality.

 

I would use the rubber ones until they wear out. When they wear out, they'll be easier to replace with the spherical ones.

The Spherical ones are easy to wreck pressing into a shock with the perfect sized hole. I wouldn't risk it on new shocks.

 

Cheers for the idea. I was considering trying to test remove the shperical joints from my old shocks and try to reinstall them again on the old ones (kind of practice). But then again, the joints nearly cost more than the new KYBs so then it would be easier to simply replace the shocks again...

 

It would be very difficult to get the old joints out without destroying them as they can be stuck very tight. For the new ones you will need to find a socket exactly the same diameter of the outer metal ring, yet will fit inside the metal collar for the rubber boot. (i.e. you need to temporarily remove the rubber boot when fitting). Once you find that they are easy to fit with a hyd press.

Million dollar question, do you have a hyd press?

 

Not at home, but in my workshop of choice where I do a lot of my car's repairs (and Ibdon't mean have them done... All DIY here)

 

I've got a 20 ton press so i pressed a few bushing in/out of old shocks to learn the proper technique. I broke 2 old spherical joint before i got the perfect technique with the correct socket sizes, etc... they I got busy on another project and never wrote the details down.

 

Hi,
as Andmars and Ungn stated before the replacement is no particular difficult job. I used the outer race of the beforehand removed bushing to press the new bushing into place. Worked like a charm!


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Cool. When it works it works. But I have used the new KYB rubbers. If they do tend to wear out, well, in with the spherical joints...